Maker Versus Unmaker

One of the main themes in the book is the Maker versus the Unmaker. Water, as a minion of the Unmaker, has been trying to destroy Alvin Junior before he is even born. His mother, while she is pregnant with him, is almost killed on the Hatrack River in Hio Territory. When he is being born, he almost drowns in the womb and then again almost dies from his own birth caul. Everyone and everything is made of water, so Peggy, the five-year-old present at his birth, is asked to not save the birth caul by the water within herself. Instead, she defies the water and saves the caul, thus committing her life to protecting the Maker. She knows that this child is able to fight the Unmaker and save the world from being undone.